Broad and Fine-Scale Movements of White Sharks in the Western North Atlantic Derived from Multiple Technologies

Despite its well-established presence in the North Atlantic, the white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, is not considered an abundant species and efforts to study its life history and ecology have been hampered by the inability of researchers to predictably encounter these sharks. However, increasing pinniped populations are now attracting white sharks to the shores of Cape Cod, MA, thereby providing research opportunities. From 2009-2013, we tagged 39 white sharks off the eastern coast of Cape Cod, MA to examine fine- and broad-scale movements, habitat use, site fidelity, residency, and feeding behavior. The sharks, which ranged from 2.4-5.5m total length (mean = 4.0 m), were tagged with pop-up satellite tags, smart positioning satellite tags, passive acoustic transmitters, and/or conventional tags. To date, we have found that some white sharks exhibit seasonal site-fidelity to the coastal waters of Cape Cod, returning over multiple years. Broad-scale movements have varied from a relatively restricted coastal seasonal migratory pattern to deep diving behavior and expansive use of offshore regions from the Sargasso Sea to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. As demonstrated elsewhere, white sharks in the North Atlantic appear to have a complex migratory pattern likely linked to reproductive biology.